Community Spotlight: Phobyac

By VitaminP — Dec 22 2021 00:41 UTC

Hola! Today, we chat with none other than Phobyac, our Raider.IO Featured Streamer of this past week. Phobyac is an influential figure of the WoW community who is not only an accomplished player in his own right but has also helped innovate community Mythic+ tournaments with his organization Bloodlust.IO and produced the official Spanish-language broadcast of the MDI.

Want to learn even more about Phobyac and the origins of Bloodlust.IO? Read on!

Meet Phobyac
Maining Mage
Shadowlands and Beyond
Favorite M+ Affixes
Bloodlust.IO - Origin Story
Community M+ Tournaments
Producing the Spanish MDI
The Spanish Community
Connecting with the Community
Goals and Aspirations
Words of Advice
Closing Thoughts

“You don't need to be a pro-player, a friend of a public figure, or somebody ‘important’ to make an impact. You just need to work hard, be consistent, and people will be grateful for your contributions.”

Q-1: Hi Phobyac! Thanks for chatting with us today. Can you please tell us a little more about yourself?

Phobyac: Hi everyone! My IRL name is Asier (Basque Country name) and I am from northern Spain. I have been a World of Warcraft player since Vanilla launched 15 years ago, but in Cataclysm, I left the game for a long time and I came back at the end of Legion (the best WoW expansion of all history). During this big break from the game, I pursued a degree in Computer Engineering. For a few years, I also competed in kickboxing (yes, Mage in WoW, Warrior IRL).

Me encanta el mago, es la clase superior por muchas razones. Tenemos la mejor habilidad del juego que es el Blink. Ademas tambien tener dos specs de bursy (Arcano y Fuego) y una se sustain (Escarcha) le ofrece a la clase una gran versatilidad y hace que sus posibilidaddes de estar dentro del meta sean muy grandes. El mago ha sido my main desde mi vuelta en legion, pero en el pasado jugue otras clases inferiores como el cazador, brujo y guerrero.

Image credit: Only O.ink, concept and game artist

Q-2: When I first met you while I was playing on EU, you were pumping high keys on your Mage. Have you always mained a Mage? If so, what do you love most about your class and why?

Phobyac: I love Mage. It's a superior class for many reasons. We have one of the strongest skills in all World of Warcraft, which is Blink. Also, Mage’s normally have 2 burst DPS specs (Fire and Arcane) and one sustained DPS spec (Frost). This gives the class a lot of versatility, which makes it so that Mage is a meta class most of the time. I have mained a Mage ever since I came back to WoW in Legion, but in the past, I played a lot of “inferior” classes like Hunter, Warlock, and Warrior.

Me encanta el mago, es la clase superior por muchas razones. Tenemos la mejor habilidad del juego que es el blink. Además, también tener dos specs de burst (Arcano y Fuego) y una se sustain (Escarcha) le ofrece a la clase una gran versatilidad y hace que sus posibilidades de estar dentro del meta sean muy grandes. El mago ha sido mi main desde mi vuelta en legión, pero en el pasado jugué otras clases inferiores como el cazador, brujo y guerrero.

Q-3: What have you been up to this expansion? What aspects do you like about Shadowlands and what are you hoping to see in future seasons or expansions?

Phobyac: On my stream, we discuss this topìc a lot. I am a high-end player but I actually think that the biggest problem in WoW is that everything is focused on instanced content like raids, Mythic+, and PvP. If we are honest, Oribos is like a big lobby where you queue into content and you teleport to that content. It's like the League of Legends client or something very similar. I hope that, for the next expansion, Blizzard focuses on giving more world content and more MMORPG-related elements without forgetting the importance of good high-end content as well.

Also, I think that the next expansion needs major changes. Shadowlands is a big failure on many levels and we need something different. The borrowed powers were great in Legion but, 2 expansions later, we need to reduce their importance from 75% to a maximum of 10% and make the classes themselves more important. Regardless, I think Shadowlands high-end content is very nice. One of the biggest problems is simply that many players have played this game for too long and it's impossible to be happy with everything.

En mi stream hablamos mucho de este tema. Soy un jugador que sobre todo juega el contenido de raid y míticas +, pero aun así creo que el mayor error del WOW es que el videojuego se ha centrado demasiado en esto. Si somos honestos, Oribos se ha convertido en un lobby donde la gente se apunta al contenido y luego se teletransporta para hacerlo. Es básicamente como si Oribos fuera un cliente como el de league of legends y tú te apuntas a otro tipo de contenido, una ranked o un aram. Espero que la próxima expansión esto cambie y vuelvan a traer la esencia de un MMORPG, evidentemente manteniendo un high end tan bueno como es el del WOW.

También creo que la próxima expansión necesita grandes cambios, Shadowlands es un gran fail en muchos sentidos y necesitamos algo totalmente diferente. Los poderes prestados fueron geniales en legión, sin embargo 2 expansiones después es necesario reducir su importancia de un 75% a máximo un 10% y buscar un nuevo camino. Igualmente creo que el contenido high end de Shadowlands esta muy bien, pero todo a su alrededor falla, porque los jugadores que llevamos mucho tiempo jugando este videojuego necesitamos un cambio radical.

Q-4: What are your favorite affixes throughout the history of Mythic+? If you could design your own unique Mythic+ affix, what would it be?

Phobyac: Personally, I love the affixes that give you something in return like last season’s affix, Prideful. The best one was the Ny'alotha seasonal affix, Awakened. It was an incredible affix that helped a lot with the meta and making creative routes. I think Zereth Morthis will afford us a similar opportunity for this again. Honestly, I don't know how to be more specific or design my own affix, but what I know for certain is that Spiteful is a particularly bad affix. In Shadowlands, the changes to all affixes were great in general, but Spiteful is not a fun affix. It doesn’t really change the gameplay of the pulls or how you play your class.

Personalmente, me encantan los afijos que te dan algo a cambio como los últimos afijos de temporada. El mejor era el de Ny'alotha, increíble y encima ayudaba mucho con el meta de entonces (rogue-dependencia). Creo que Zereth morthis nos da otra vez una oportunidad para hacer algo similar. Sinceramente, no sé ser mucho más específico que eso, pero lo que si sé al 100% es que la spiteful es un afijo malísimo. Los cambios que trajo Shadowlands en general fueron muy buenos, pero este específicamente no pienso que ni sea divertido ni aporte ningún cambio sustancial a la hora de jugar.

Q-5: Now let’s talk about Bloodlust.IO. What is its origin story? How did it all begin and were you the founder? What kinds of things does Bloodlust.IO offer?

Phobyac: The start of Bloodlust.IO was very simple since I had the rights of the MDI from casting for the Spanish language Warcraft channel in BFA. In the past, the community tournaments I held took place on Twitch and I did it on my own channel. However, when Blizzard got their partnership with Youtube, I couldn’t do live streams on another platform due to the fact that I am a Twitch partner. Thus, Bloodlust.IO was built. It was an idea that we had in our mind before this but this was the exact moment when we finally made it happen. Obviously, Bloodlust.IO also writes articles and guides. In our quest to improve the Spanish WoW competitive scene, our most important and valuable contributions have been hosting community tournaments, conducting interviews, etc.

El inicio de Bloodlust.io es muy simple. Yo tenía los derechos de retransmisión del MDI desde BFA, y en el pasado el torneo se retransmitía en mi canal de Twitch, pero cuando Blizzard llego a un trato con Youtube, yo como partner no podía stremear en otras plataformas, y en ese momento es cuando nació. Era una idea que ya teníamos de antes y de la que hablábamos, pero fue ese la mecha que nos hizo dar el paso. Evidentemente con el tiempo se ha convertido en mucho más que eso: Artículos, guías y por supuesto, nuestra contribución más importante, mover la escena competitiva de wow lo máximo posible con torneos y otras cosas.

Q-6: When and how did you first start doing community tournaments with Bloodlust.IO? What were some of the challenges you had to overcome in making community tournaments?

Phobyac: The Bloodlust Mythic tournament is what makes me most proud as a content creator. It was very hard work with many hours, headaches, and problems, but we finally succeeded in launching a Spanish community Mythic + tournament with great results — not just in terms of viewership numbers, but also in regards to quality. From the very beginning, our main focus was to try to do a professional tournament with amateur resources. The community was happy with this tournament from the start and every player that got onto the Tournament Realm trained a lot. From the first edition of the Bloodlust tournament to the second one, the quality upgrades were hilarious, with some teams even competing at MDI mid-table level. Also, many sponsors like WoW fan sites, Corsair, and others helped with the tournament, and we finally achieved what we wanted: An event that everyone wants to repeat.

Lo que más orgulloso me hace sentir como creador de contenido es el Bloodlust Mythic Tournament. Es un trabajo muy duro, muchas horas, dolores de cabeza y problemas, pero finalmente conseguimos un torneo nacional de míticas + con unos resultados increíbles, no solo en los números, también en la calidad de la producción. Desde el principio nuestro objetivo era conseguir un torneo profesional con recursos amateur. La comunidad estuvo muy feliz y todos los jugadores entrenaron muchísimo. De la primera a la segunda edición, la subida de nivel fue impresionante y en la segunda tuvimos equipos del nivel del MDI. También tuvimos increíbles sponsors como los fansites españoles, Corsair y muchos otros y finalmente conseguimos lo que queríamos, un evento que todo el mundo quería repetir.

“...The MDI teams have been very open to interacting cross-culturally. This has made everything much funnier and has fostered a lot of community engagement.”

Q-7: We also know that you are on the production team for the Spanish language MDI broadcast. What is it like to produce the MDI compared to a community event such as Bloodlust.IO?

Phobyac: Producing the Spanish language MDI broadcast has been very easy since Blizzard provides us with everything. Essentially, we just have to gather a good crew of Spanish casters and host a normal stream with a few considerations. I have a strong team of casters who have extensive WoW/Mythic+ knowledge and good rapport with one another. Lately, it has been easy to produce the Spanish MDI broadcast because we can translate posts to any language on social media and the MDI teams have been very open to interacting cross-culturally. This has made everything much funnier and has fostered a lot of community engagement.

El MDI es muy fácil, Blizzard te lo da todo, tú solo tienes que buscar un buen equipo y hacer poco más que un stream normal. Tengo un gran equipo, casters con mucho conocimiento de World of Warcraft, miticas + y un gran compromiso. Además, últimamente también la cosa se ha puesto muy fácil en las redes porque los equipos y wow esports interactúan mucho y eso lo hace muy divertido.

“Many dedicated players and teams have worked hard to carve out a spot for the Spanish community in WoW. In the future, I’m sure you will see some strong Spanish teams winning international tournaments.”

Q-8: How big is the competitive scene of Spanish speaking players? What insights can you share with us about this?

Phobyac: The Spanish competitive WoW community is not a big one but there have been a lot of people doing high Mythic+ over the last few years. I'm very proud because I think I have had some impact on this. Many dedicated players and teams have worked hard to carve out a spot for the Spanish community in WoW. In the future, I’m sure you will see some strong Spanish teams winning international tournaments.

La comunidad española no es una de las grandes, pero en los últimos años hemos tenido un crecimiento de jugadores grande alrededor de las míticas +. Estoy muy orgulloso porque creo que he tenido cierto impacto en esto, y muchos jugadores y equipos están entrenando muy duro cada temporada para hacernos notar en la comunidad internacional de World of Warcraft. Estoy seguro de que en el futuro tendremos algún equipo español ganando torneos internacionales.

“WoW has been a part of our lives for years, so many people within the community are happy to support everything around them.”

Q-9: Has producing tournaments made you feel more connected to the WoW community as a whole, even outside of the Spanish-language community? What is your favorite thing about the WoW community?

Phobyac: Totally, yes. The Bloodlust Mythic+ tournament was in direct connection with the competitive and general Spanish communities, and we have connections with the international community as well. For the first tournament we did show matches with players like Drjay, Lontar (PvP) and many other streamers. Also, we started working with Raider.IO back then and that was amazing. Comparing World of Warcraft with other gaming communities, we are probably smaller but we have loved WoW for a long time. WoW has been a part of our lives for years, so many people within the community are happy to support everything around them.

Totalmente, si, el torneo fue una conexión directa con la comunidad competitiva de España y en general con todos, además también tuvimos una conexión con la comunidad internacional. En el primer torneo hicimos un show match en el que tuvimos streamers y jugadores como Drjay o Lontar entre muchos otros streamers de la comunidad. Además, en ese punto empezamos a trabajar con Raider.IO y fue increíble. Si tú comparas la comunidad de WoW con la de otros juegos, somos más pequeños, pero amamos World of Warcraft mucho, y todo el mundo ama este juego por mucho tiempo, es parte de su vida y esto tiene un gran impacto en como la gente apoya todo alrededor de él.

Q-10: What are your personal goals for your WoW/esports career? What plans do you have for the future both for yourself and for Bloodlust.IO?

Phobyac: I don't have specific goals but I want to continue working for World of Warcraft and growing the Spanish competitive community. I also plan to keep working on my stream and honing my own skills as a player.

No tengo goals específicos, pero quiero seguir trabajando para world of warcraft y continuar ayudando a la comunidad competitiva de España. Evidentemente, también quiero seguir trabajando en mi stream y en mi faceta de jugador.

Q-11: Do you have any words of advice for aspiring players, streamers, or community organization leaders who are looking to make a splash in the WoW community like you have?

Phobyac: In World of Warcraft and for streaming, the most important thing is to be consistent. It's very easy to blame the game situation or others for misfortune. In reality, if you work smart, being part of a smaller community has many advantages. The English community has a lot of people doing a large number of things. While this is amazing, it also means that getting a spot in the English community is harder. When you have smaller language-based communities like Spanish or even smaller, there are generally fewer people who are doing big things for the community, whether as a player, streamer, or running community-led organizations. You don't need to be a pro-player, a friend of a public figure, or somebody “important” to make an impact. You just need to work hard, be consistent, and people will be grateful for your contributions.

Q-12: Is there anything else you would like to say?

Phobyac: Thank you to Raider.IO. I discovered you during Legion and, this year, you’ve done so much work for everyone in the community. As someone who helps produce tournaments, streams, and content in general, I’ve learned to really value this kind of work, so the contributions of Raider.IO are larger than people think. Also, I want to say thank you to all the people that come to my stream every day and support me by talking in the chat with one another and interacting with me. Together, we are working very hard to make WoW great again.

Gracias de verdad a Raider.IO, os descubrí a finales de legión y el trabajo que hacéis es increíble. Como persona que se dedica a esto, produciendo torneos, streams y contenido en general, sé el valor que tiene este tipo de trabajo, y la contribución de Raider.IO es mucho mayor de lo que la gente se cree. También quiero agradecer a toda la gente que se pasa por mi stream cada día y me apoya hablando en el chat, con subs o simplemente interactuando conmigo. Juntos, estamos trabajando para hacer el wow grande otra vez.

About the Author

VitaminP (VP) is the Lead Editor & Assistant Producer of Raider.IO and has worked for the organization since the formation of the News Section in November 2018. Although VP is currently focused on pursuing her Masters of Business Administration, she specializes in tanking classes and has loved doing competitive Mythic+ on and off since early Legion.